Messages

Whoops. I'm so sorry gentlemen. In the late hours of the night I completely failed to remember to name my speech files as characternameX.wav rather than speechX.wav.

Everything else seemed to be in order which is why I assumed this was broken in the latest build.
Do forgive me please. I'll try and be a little more organized next time.

Paul.

Is that true? AGS is pretty high up in my books as might be for other regular members. I'm on here everyday asking questions, reporting bugs etc. It depends on how active a member you are.
I think there should be a profile option to allow for these kinds of events to send brief alerts to those who desire it.

Cheers,
Paul.

Sorry Chris. I honestly don't mean to bother you.
I tried a multitude of sounds and none of them worked in any of my test games. I figured if it was a bug then its a pretty obvious one and I didn't really expect you to have much success either.

Theres actually not much more I can tell you other than the wav format I'm using.
The speech files are 44,000Htz 16 Bit Mono. Every other sound is the same but Stereo and I have tested both formats.
Again I'm using Vista with DirectX 10.1

I hope I'm wrong about the bug but I really can't think of anything I'm doing wrong here.
Paul.

Not that this has happened in a while, but a few times I've been forced to investigate outages on google and americangirlscouts before with little success. Would it be too much to ask if the adoring community could receive email updates on potential outages and scheduled server changes.
It would be really convenient.

Thanks,
Paul.

I've tried everything to get speech to play.
The following code won't play speech:

Code: ags

cEgo.Say("&5 Are you a bug?");

Cheers,
Paul.

[Edit:]

Wow that worked like a charm Gilbot thanks for responding to quickly. The only problem I'm having now is trying to get the timing right for the elevator ride back up. The ride down was spot on but it seems that on the ride up, the platform object animates a second too soon and the character passes through the floor after the elevator has already returned.

Any ideas? Thanks again, btw. Made my night!

Cheers,
Paul.

Edit:
Never mind. I just created another loop for the elevator ride up and added a delay of 35 to the first frame.

I am making an elevator and want the character to lock his view and slide down through the floor with a platform.

I have tried the following but the movement appears jerky and inconsistent.

Code: ags

function region2_WalksOnto()
{
  int y;
  hMetalPlate.Enabled = true; // turns on platform hotspot
  cEgo.Walk(205, 105, eBlock); // walks to center of platform
  cEgo.FaceLocation(205, 200, eBlock); //faces the camera
  cEgo.Baseline = 5; // character can now appear to be going through the hole in the floor
  oElevator.SetView(13);
  oElevator.Animate(0, 0, eOnce, eNoBlock, eForwards); // elevator object slides down
  cEgo.SayBackground("&2 WHOA!");
  while (y<45) {
    cEgo.LockViewOffset(EGOIDLE, 0, y);
    y++;
  }
  Wait(50); // waits at bottom for a bit
  oElevator.Animate(0, 0, eOnce, eNoBlock, eBackwards); // elevator object slides back up
  while (y=45) {
    cEgo.LockViewOffset(EGOIDLE, 0, y);
    y--;
  }
  cEgo.Baseline = 0; // returns walk behind to normal
  cEgo.UnlockView();
}

What am I doing wrong?

Cheers,
Paul.

Your kidding me! Now that's compact code. I would never have figured that out on my own. Give me a good 4 years at scripting perhaps.

Thanks Khris. I see how it works. Most appreciated. 
Paul.

[SUGGESTION:]

SUGGESTION:
I think a 'notes' pane would be really useful. I've got so many ideas and it would be handy to be able to write them into AGS so that I can logistically implement them one by one. It would also be helpful for anyone working in a team environment so that members can read each others notes and write their own.

I also made an icon for your convenience:



MORE SUGGESTIONS:

• The baseline for objects is never visible and can't be dragged. Could this be added?
  
• The ability to hide/unhide objects via a toggle for easy comparative placement would be fantastic. Perhaps the 'visible' parameter in the object pane of the room editor could actually hide the object in the editor as opposed to just the engine alone.
  
• In the room editor, assign SHIFT to lock line drawing to 90 and 45 degree angles.
  
• cEgo.SayBackground(); currently doesnt support speech playback. Could this be added?
  
• The ability to name loops and call them via their 'would-be' script names would be neat.
  
• The Vista Game Explorer integration currently doesn't support .ico format. Theres this ugly border around my game icon where other games such as Minesweeper or Solitaire do not. Is there a way to mimick this behaviour? I've tried Vista Game Explorer Editor already.
  
• The ability to run short scripts on view frames might be a useful feature. Instead of ViewFrame.Sound you would just type PlaySound(3); in the frame script. Does anyone else agree?
  
  
  Cheers,
  Paul.
  
  Edit: Added more suggestions.

Yeah i think things like this are left in the hands of third party developers and better off being that way. Once a plug-in in written however, theres no real reason why it couldn't or shouldn't be incorporated into the AGS engine officially.

Cheers,
Paul.

Thats completely understandable. I guess once development on TFE has come to completion you will have the time to refine the features and expand on what makes it such a handy tool for developing AGS games.

Keep it up guys. 

Cheers,
Paul.

YES!!! I DID IT!! I don't fully understand the whole proccess but I fumbled my way through it nonetheless. Turns out, I wasn't resetting 'i' to zero. This is how I did it for those of you interested and maybe somebody more experienced can explain what is ACTUALLY going on here:

Code: ags

int i; // all walking views
ViewFrame *vf;

function region2_WalksOnto()
{
  hMetalPlate.Enabled = true; // hotspot enabled
  i = 0;
}
function region2_WalksOff()
{
  i = 0;
}

function room_RepExec()
{
  //===== FOOTSTEP SOUNDS =====//
  while (i<8) {
    if (Region.GetAtRoomXY(player.x, player.y) == region[2]) {
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 0);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Be; // idle footstep
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 4);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Ae;
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 10);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Ae;
    }
    else {
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 0);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Be; // idle footstep
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 4);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Ae;
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 10);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Ae;
    }
    i++;
  }
}

Cheers and thanks a million for all your help.
Paul.

This AGX Plugin suite sure sounds like near on the horizon. I can't wait to adopt it into my production pipeline. Congrats to the you and the fantastic hard work you've all put into it. I can imagine it's something we really couldn't do without once it's available. Top stuff Lemmy!

Cheers,
Paul.

I could but then I'd have roughly 12 times the amount of views in my game. You have to understand that when the character walks over a particular region, such as a metal plate, the footstep sound should reflect that and give important feedback to the player telling them that it is something metal they are standing on. Now I have over 12 different sets of footstep sounds set up that each tell the player that they are standing on different materials including wood and sludge. It would be impractical to have additional views for this when it can be done with a reasonable amount of code. Having said that,
how DO I get a region to change the sound of Ego's footsteps as soon as he walks onto a region and for it to continue doing so until the player has left the region?

I have tried almost everything and it seems like something is stopping the code from doing anything when it is in the room's repeatedly execute function.

I successfully got it to display a "metal on"/"metal off" message when the player was on the region but it's just the sounds that don't swap.

Code: ags

function room_RepExec()
{
  ViewFrame*vf;
  if (Region.GetAtRoomXY(player.x, player.y) == region[2]) {
    while (i<8) {
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 0);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Be; // idle footstep
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 4);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Ae;
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 10);
      vf.Sound = sFS2Ae;
      i++;
    }
  }
  else {    
    while (i<8) {
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 0);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Be; // idle footstep
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 4);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Ae;
      vf = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, i, 10);
      vf.Sound = sFS1Ae;
      i++;
    }
  }
}

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Cheers,
Paul.

Thanks for this. I figured it out myself, actually. I did in fact make a clumsy script error. Thanks for your shorter example. It's a good learning example of how I can shorten my code in future.

Thanks again mate. Ta.
Paul.

[Edit:]

I am trying to set the character's footstep sounds to a different set based on what room the player is in.
I can't get the code to work and keep getting stuck with nested functions. How do I write this?
This is what I have so far.

Code: ags

function room_Load() {

//===== FOOTSTEP SOUNDS =====//

// WALK DOWN
ViewFrame *walkdown = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 1, 1); 
walkdown.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkdown = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 1, 4);
walkdown.Sound = 5; 
walkdown = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 1, 10);
walkdown.Sound = 5;

// WALK LEFT
ViewFrame *walkleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 2, 1);
walkleft.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 2, 6);
walkleft.Sound = 5;
walkleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 2, 12);
walkleft.Sound = 5;

// WALK RIGHT
ViewFrame *walkright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 3, 1);
walkright.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 3, 6);
walkright.Sound = 5;
walkright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 3, 12);
walkright.Sound = 5;

// WALK UP
ViewFrame *walkup = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 4, 1);
walkup.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkup = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 4, 4);
walkup.Sound = 5;
walkup = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 4, 10);
walkup.Sound = 5;

// WALK DOWN-RIGHT
ViewFrame *walkdownright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 5, 1);
walkdownright.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkdownright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 5, 5);
walkdownright.Sound = 5;
walkdownright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 5, 11);
walkdownright.Sound = 5;

// WALK UP-RIGHT
ViewFrame *walkupright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 6, 1);
walkupright.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkupright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 6, 5);
walkupright.Sound = 5;
walkupright = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 6, 11);
walkupright.Sound = 5;

// WALK DOWN-LEFT
ViewFrame *walkdownleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 7, 1);
walkdownleft.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkdownleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 7, 5);
walkdownleft.Sound = 5;
walkdownleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 7, 11);
walkdownleft.Sound = 5;

// WALK UP-LEFT
ViewFrame *walkupleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 8, 1);
walkupleft.Sound = 6; // idle footstep
walkupleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 8, 5);
walkupleft.Sound = 5;
walkupleft = Game.GetViewFrame(EGOWALK, 8, 11);
walkupleft.Sound = 5;
}

Any help would be hot.

BTW is the AGS server hosted in Iran or something? The server is as slow as a crippled rock. 

Cheers,
Paul.

Edit:
ARGHH! This was supposed to go in the beginner's thread. Sorry .

I loved your crafty little artwork Chris! That new Global Variables Icon sure fits into the hearty family of 16x16 eyecandy.
Always keeping things polished...I like!

Cheers
Paul.

With in-game tools, you could move your character around on-screen

Thats a very good point but for the meantime I imagine its not too laborious to create them in Photoshop until an engine based dynamic editor has been created. Looking forward to that one.

I intend to keep them as separate modules, but they will be compatible with each other so you can use both on the same screen.

Thats marvelous. Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Edit:]

It has just occurred to me that in order for me to create diagonal walk behinds with perspective I need to do more than a few id's with different baselines. But this is an approximation of what could be a much simpler process.

I suggest that AGS 3.02 introduces dynamic baselines that can be rotated to compensate for change in perspective.

Cheers,
Paul.

Edit:
I would also like to suggest a sound property in the regions pane of the room editor. Having to

Code: ags

ViewFrame *frame = Game.GetViewFrame(WALKING, 2, 4);

for each view is no less than a headache and could easily be managed by a simple 'footstep override' property in the regions pane. Cheers.

Not sure how many people will use it unless the editing/debug tools are super easy to use

Well I imagined that people would simply create their z-depth maps in Photoshop. Not 'everything' has to be done inside AGS. Designing these depth maps is best left in the hands of a technical artist or an artistically motivated programmer anyway. As for the debug tools, youve got me there.

I don't intend to merge the ShadowBox module with the LightMap module yet

Fair enough. But after all the bugs are ironed out or after you have found a new method of going about shadows, do you plan to integrate the two features together?

Top work mate. Your nothing short of a genius to me.

Cheers,
Paul.